A new joint UNESCO–ICOMOS report has confirmed the scale of Preah Vihear Temple war damage from the 2025 border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. The 9th-century cliff-top World Heritage site remains closed to visitors, and there’s still no confirmed reopening date.
Preah Vihear Temple War Damage: What the Report Found
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) sent a joint mission to inspect Preah Vihear in March 2026, at Cambodia’s request. The resulting report, released this week, documents damage the mission called “incomparable” to anything the site has suffered in previous conflicts.
- A fallen pediment and destroyed western pillar at the main sanctuary.
- A collapsed eastern façade at Gopura V, one of the temple’s five gateway structures.
- Damaged stairways and gates, plus extensive shrapnel scarring across wall surfaces.
- 562 impact craters identified across the site — 142 from strikes in July 2025 and 420 from December 2025.
- Weakened cliff stability from heavy shelling, and destroyed tourist infrastructure and restoration equipment.
The report states plainly: “The strikes have wreaked havoc, leaving a profound and detrimental impact on the integrity of the property.” UNESCO-ICOMOS has designated the temple as facing “serious and specific danger,” and is calling for urgent unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance before any restoration work can safely begin.
Is Preah Vihear Open to Visitors?
No. The temple has been closed to tourists since the border conflict, and this report doesn’t change that — if anything, it underscores why. Beyond the structural damage, the mission specifically flagged the need for UXO clearance before the site is safe to reopen, and there’s no confirmed timeline for when that will happen. Coverage from Thai media suggests communities on both sides of the border are hoping access will eventually be restored, but as of now it remains a “when,” not a “soon.”
What This Means If You’re Planning a Trip
- Don’t plan a Preah Vihear visit right now. There’s no visitor access, and given the UXO clearance requirement, this isn’t a site to approach informally even if you’re already near the Cambodia–Thailand border area.
- Angkor Wat and Cambodia’s other major sites are unaffected. This damage and closure is specific to Preah Vihear, which sits directly on the contested border roughly 300 km from Siem Reap. Angkor Wat and the wider Angkor complex remain open and are not affected by this report.
- Border-area travel generally: this report is a reminder that the Cambodia–Thailand border region has been genuinely unstable, not just administratively closed — a useful data point if you were considering any overland route or border-area itinerary.
Bottom Line
Preah Vihear has sustained serious, well-documented damage and stays closed indefinitely while UXO clearance and restoration planning proceed. It’s a genuine loss for one of Cambodia’s most striking heritage sites, but it doesn’t change anything about visiting Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, or the rest of the country — those remain fully open and unaffected.
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